Weekly FIVE! April 16, 2019

Tuesday, April 16, 2019 - 14:02 By Eric Olanowski

Discussing the European C'ship results, this week's Pan-American C'ships, and next week's Asian's C'ships. Also looking at the newly released Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games wrestling schedule.

1. European Championships Wrap up in Bucharest
The 2019 European Championships wrapped up on Sunday night in Bucharest, Romania, and it was the Russian Federation who claimed team titles in both freestyle and Greco-Roman, while Ukraine won the women’s wrestling team trophy.

In freestyle, The Russian Federation trailed Azerbaijan by five points heading into the final day of wrestling but closed out the freestyle competition with two golds, two silvers, and four bronze medals to win the team title six points ahead of second place Turkey.

Azerbaijan (145 points), Georgia (104 points), and Ukraine (80 points) rounded out the top-five in freestyle.

In Greco-Roman, the Russian Federation repeated as European champions, winning five individual gold medals and having nine of ten wrestlers reach the podium. Russia finished 60 points ahead of second-place Turkey.

Azerbaijan (76 points), Germany (72 points), and Georgia (72 points) finished third through fifth respectively.

In women’s wrestling, Ukraine, who had a solo bronze medalist and finished last year’s Kaspiisk European Championships in seventh place, capped off their improbable run to a European team title on the backs of four individual women’s wrestling championship performances.

Bulgaria (112 points), Turkey (98 points), Azerbaijan (96 points), and Russia (89 points) were the other top-five finishers respectively.

Click HERE for the full #WrestleBucharest event hub.

Canada's Erica WIEBE (CAN) is one of four Olympic champions wrestling at the 2019 Pan-American Championships. (Photo: Max Rose-Fyne)

2. Four Olympic Champions Make Up 2019 Pan American Championships Field
Six Olympic medalists, including four Olympic champions, highlight the field at the 2019 Senior Pan American Championships in Buenos Aires, Argentina, April 18-21. Each style has at least one Olympic champion in the field.

Three of the four Olympic medalists in the men’s freestyle brackets come from USA, including 2012 champion Jordan BURROUGHS, 2016 champion Kyle SNYDER and 2016 bronze medalist J’den COX.

In women's wrestling, 2016 Olympic champion Erica WIEBE (CAN) will compete this week at 76kg, while Rio Greco-Roman Olympic champion and five-time Pan American champion Ismael BORRERO MOLINA (CUB) at 67kg.

Click HERE for Taylor Miller's full Pan-American Championship preview.

Japan's Kaori ICHO will be looking for her fifth women's wrestling Olympic gold medal. (Photo: Gabor Martin)

3. Women’s Wrestling at Center Stage as Tokyo 2020 Announces Detailed Competition Schedule
The Tokyo Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (Tokyo 2020) has announced the detailed competition schedule for the sport of wrestling at the 2020 Olympic Games. The two-day competition format will feature women’s wrestling as the final gold medal bout on each day of competition.

Japan is the most dominant women’s wrestling nation in the world having won 11 of 18 Olympic gold medals since 2004, the first year the sport was included on the Olympic programme. The island nation has also won 22 world team titles since the first women’s wrestling world championships in 1987, including 11 of the last 13.

“The schedule announced by Tokyo 2020 will help wrestling ensure high attendance for each day of the competition,” said United World Wrestling president Nenad Lalovic. “We saw nice crowds in Brazil and expect that this schedule will help us reach even more fans and create a positive and energetic environment for all our competitors. The stars of women’s wrestling will guarantee that interest-level.”

Greco-Roman will join women for the first half of the schedule, with freestyle set to wrap up the Games alongside the aforementioned women’s weight categories.

Click HERE for Tim Foley's breakdown of the full Olympic schedule.

4. Kayaalp, Bisultanov, and Ciobanu Make History at European Championships
Turkey’s Riza KAYAALP authored a new page in the Turkish wrestling history books on Saturday night by winning his ninth European title. Kayaalp entered the night tied with Hamza YERLIKAYA, who also had eight European titles, but surpassed Yerlikaya with his Day 6 win at the Polyvalent Hall in Bucharest, Romania.

In his 130kg Greco-Roman gold-medal bout, Kayaalp scored three points from a stepout and a takedown to defeat Iakobi KAJAIA (GEO), 3-0.

Moldova’s Victor Ciobanu and Denmark’s Rajbek Bisultanov reached the top of the European championship podium and made history for their countries on the closing day of the wrestling in Bucharest.

In the 60kg Greco-Roman finals, Victor Ciobanu pulled off perhaps the biggest upset of these European Championships, defeating the defending world and European champion Sergey EMELIN (RUS), 5-5, on criteria, and became the first-ever Moldovan Greco-Roman European champion.

In the 82kg Greco-Roman finals, Rajbek Bisultanov ended Denmark’s 93-year drought without a European gold medal, becoming the first wrestler from his nation to circle the mat with a Danish flag since Johannes JACOBSEN did so at the Riga European title in 1926.

Bisultanov fell behind 1-0 to Georgia’s Lasha GOBADZE (GEO) but scored two exposure points and a takedown, ending the opening frame with a 4-1 lead. In the closing period, the Danish wrestler was dinged for a caution-and-two but held on to win 4-3.

China's No. 1-ranked RONG Ningning will be one of two returning world champs competing at this year's Asian Championships. (Photo: Max Rose-Fyne)

5. Asian Championships Kick off Next Week in Xi'an, China
Xi’an's Electronic Science and Technology University Gymnasium will be the host site for this year's Asian Championships, which take place in Xi'an, China from March 23-28.

In total, 19 returning medalists from last year's world championships will be in action.

Women's wrestling leads the way with ten returning podium finishers. They'll have two champions, one silver, and seven returning bronze competing.

Greco-Roman will have one returning finalist and five bronze medalists, while freestyle has a pair of 2018 runner-ups and two bronze-medal finishers taking the mat in China next week.

All the action can be followed live on www.unitedworldwrestling.org.

SCHEDULE
Monday (March 22)
17:00 - Draw FS – 57-65-70-79-97kg

Tuesday (March 23)
9:30 - Medical examination and Weigh-in FS – 57-65-70-779-97kg
11:30 - Qualification rounds and repechage FS – 57-65-70-79-97kg
14:45 - Draw FS – 61-74-86-92-125kg
17:30 - Opening ceremony
18:00 - Finals FS – 57-65-70-79-97kg
18:00 - Award ceremonies

Wednesday (March 24)
9:30 - Medical examination and Weigh-in FS – 61-74-86-92-125kg
11:30 - Qualification rounds and repechage FS – 61-74-86-92-125kg
14:45 - Draw WW – 50-55-59-68-76kg
18:00 - Finals FS – 61-74-86-92-125kg
18:00 - Award ceremonies / Cérémonies protocolaires

Thursday (March 25)
9:30 - Medical examination and Weigh-in WW – 50-55-59-68-76kg 11:30 - Qualification rounds and repechage WW – 50-55-59-68-76kg
14:45 - Draw WW – 53-57-62-65-72kg
18:00 - Finals WW – 50-55-59-68-76kg
18:00 - Award ceremonies

Friday (March 26)
9:30 - Medical examination and Weigh-in WW – 53-57-62-65-72kg 11:30 - Qualification rounds and repechage WW – 53-57-62-65-72kg
14:45 - Draw GR – 55-63-77-87-130kg
18:00 - Finals WW – 53-57-62-65-72kg
Award ceremonies / Cérémonies protocolaires

Saturday (March 27)
9:30 - Medical examination and Weigh-in GR – 55-63-77-87-130kg
11:30 - Qualification rounds and repechage GR – 55-63-77-87-130kg
14:45 - Draw GR – 60-67-72-82-97kg
18:00 - Finals GR – 55-63-77-87-130kg
Award ceremonies

Sunday (March 28)
9:30 - Medical examination and Weigh-in GR – 60-67-72-82-97kg
11:30 - Qualification rounds and repechage GR – 60-67-72-82-97kg
18:00 - Finals matches GR – 60-67-72-82-97kg Award ceremonies

Weekly FIVE! In Social Media

1. Greco-Roman highlights from the European Championships ?? // Head over to our stories for the full video . .
2. Big Move(s) From Day 7 // #WrestleBucharest
3. Big Move From Day 6 // #WrestleBucharest
4. ?? @maxim_manukyan ?? ?️ ➡ ?
5. Big Move From Day 3 // #WrestleBucharest

#BeachWrestling

Beach Wrestling: Iran's return to top; Puerto Rico, Azerbaijan win first golds

Sunday, September 28, 2025 - 13:44 By United World Wrestling Press

KATERINI-PIERIA, Greece (September 27) -- Iran’s return to Beach Wrestling after an eight-year absence could have been cautious. Instead, it was commanding.

Iran won four medals, including two golds, to claim the men’s team title at the U17 World Beach Wrestling Championships after a close race with Georgia, which finished second with 75 points to Iran’s 80. Azerbaijan was third with 62 points.

In the women's category, hosts Greece managed to go past France to finish first with 50 points while France ended up second with 42. The United States was third with 32 points.

The U17 World Championships is a significant stop in Beach Wrestling as it will be taken into consideration for while awarding the quotas for the 2026 Youth Olympic Games.

Iran Iran's two gold medalists in Greece, Mahdi FOTOUHI (IRI), left, at 90kg and Youssof HOSSEIN (IRI), right, at 70kg.

Gold medalists for Iran, Youssof HOSSEIN (IRI) at 70kg and Mahdi FOTOUHI (IRI) at 90kg, were competing in Beach Wrestling for the first time but never let their inexperience affect their performances.

Hossein, who defeated Stefan MUNTEAN (MDA) in the knockout match, was placed in Group D with Yuki UEDA (JPN), Nikolaos PAPADOPOULOS (GRE) and Ilie TURCAN (MDA). He defeated Papadopoulos 3-1 in the group bout before blanking Turcan 3-0 in just 40 seconds. He was quicker against Ueda, winning in 34 seconds.

Facing Luka MAKHARADZE (GEO) in the quarterfinals, Hossein scored a 3-1 victory and took only 40 seconds to beat Rashad ALIYEV (AZE) in the semifinals.

In an all-Iran final, Hossein fell behind 1-0 against Ilyar VEGHARI (IRI) but stormed back with two straight points with a knee and head touch from Veghari. He used a lateral drop as his final move to win 5-1. Veghari's lost challenge added to Hossein's score and made it 6-1.

Fotouhi was even more dominant at 90kg, winning all three of his group bouts via fall. Charilaos CHAITIDIS (GRE) survived getting pinned in the quarterfinals but Fotouhi was strong enough to win 3-0 and advance to the semifinals.

After winning the semifinal 2-1 against Elgun KARIMLI (AZE), Fotouhi was back to his dominant self and slammed Joni SHAORSHADZE (GEO) to pick his fourth fall in six bouts and the gold medal for Iran.

Fotouhi began with a step out to earn his first point of the final. Both wrestlers arm-locked each other and tried to throw at the edge but it was Shaorshadze who touched outside first which gave Fotouhi his second point.

In one of those moments when his Freestyle instincts took over, Fotouhi went for duckunder and touched his knee on the sand which gave Shaorshadze a point to make the score 2-1. The Georgian tried a fireman carry in the final 10 seconds but Fotouhi pancaked him for a fall.

At 60kg, Mykyta KUZMENKO (UKR) defeated Rati BERIDZE (GEO) twice, first in the group stages and then in final, to claim the gold medal.

Kuzmenko blanked all his opponents barring Beridze who managed to score one point when the two met in the Group B bout. However, the Ukrainian improved and gave no chance to Beridze in the final, winning 3-0.

The Ukrainian was quick to score two step-outs and lead 2-0 and when Beridze tried to score a point, Kuzmenko snapped him down and scored his third and winning point.

Georgia had another silver medalist, Nuradin MUSTAFAEV (GEO), who suffered a one-sided loss in the 80kg final to Nihad SULEYMANLI (AZE), who had represented Azerbaijan at the U17 World Championships in Athens in August.

Suleymanli did not give up a single point in the tournament and won the final against Mustafaev 3-0. He scored a step-out to open the scoring in the final before Mustafaev fell on the ground to give a second point. The Georgian wrestler tried tripping Suleymanli but instead gave a takedown for one point to drop the final.

Azerbaijan's first-ever gold medalist Ulviyya MUSAYEVA (AZE) with other team members.

Historic golds for Puerto Rico, Azerbaijan

In the women's category, Puerto Rico and Azerbaijan earned historic golds as four different countries crowned champions.

Heklanys RIVERA (PUR), the first woman to compete in Beach Wrestling for her country, made a stunning run to the gold medal at 45kg. She did not give up a single point in six bouts including the final.

Taking on Kaltouma SALISSOU (FRA) in the final, Rivera was put on the 30-second activity clock. With eight seconds remaining, Rivera used an underhook to get the first takedown for a point.

The second point was awarded to Rivera when Salissou committed a foul by grabbing Rivera's shorts. The winning takedown was similar to the first one as Rivera moved from underhook to tripping Salissou.

For Azerbaijan, 15-year-old Ulviyya MUSAYEVA (AZE) needed only 16 seconds to create history. She defeated last year's champion Reisa KOJIMA (JPN) via fall in the 55kg final. Kojima tried hitting a lateral drop in the final but fell on her back, which gave Musayeva three points for the win.

Earlier, Musayeva had lost one of the group bouts against Mia KOVAC (CRO) via fall but rebounded to win all remaining bouts to make the final and then capture the gold medal.

Hosts Greece, which won the team title, earned the gold medal at 75kg through Elena ZAIMIDOU (GRE) who scored a 32-second victory via fall over Madeline HAYDEN (USA) in the final.

Zaimidou, who has competed and won gold in Grappling at the European level, secured three victories via fall, and a victory via superiority over Merily VAESTER (EST) in the semifinals.

In the gold medal bout, Hayden stunned the local fans when she hit a beautiful over-the-head suplex on Zaimidou. Hayden went for a second suplex, but Zaimidou blocked her, using a headlock, and Hayden fell on her back which gave Zaimidou three points and the victory.

Hayden challenged the scoring but the points were confirmed on review and Zaimidou was awarded a point for lost challenge, which made her score 4-1.

European bronze medalist in Women's Wrestling, Alexandra MOISEI (MDA) earned the gold medal at 65kg after some nervous wins. She defeated Thea ROUSSEL (FRA), 3-0, in the final in 49 seconds using three easy snapdowns.

Weekly FIVE! April 16, 2019

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Beach Wrestling: Iran's return to top; Puerto Rico, Azerbaijan win first golds